One from Four Leaves Three
by Scottenkainen
Summary: Fantastic Four #110 re-mixed. It's May 1971 and the Sub-Mariner is trapped in the Negative Zone with Annihilus! Can the Thing, the Human Torch, and Alicia Grimm get him back home?
1. Chapter 1

Somewhere and somewhen in the Negative Zone.

It seemed like an hour ago when Ben and John safely escaped the Negative Zone, while Namor the Sub-Mariner remained behind to face an almost certain doom. He stood on a chunk of rock in orbit around an anomolous, planet-sized energy field that exerted its own powerful gravity. Namor only stood there for a moment before he leaped with his powerful legs to another small satelite. The smaller satelites were no more than a few feet apart, but what Namor desperately sought were the larger satelites -- tiny moons, barren and cratered, less than a mile in diameter, but to which air somehow clung. Always at his winged heels were the misshapen, alien monsters -- the monsters that served Annihilus.

Never did Namor feel he was fleeing, but only making tactical withdrawals. When he reached air again, he turned on his pursuers and gave much worse than he got. A pair of shaggy, horned brutes with wing flaps like giant flying squirrels had caught up to Namor first and were rewarded by a bone-crushing punch to the face to the first one, followed by the second being grappled and thrown into the first. And while Namor beat them back he shouted to the other monsters approaching, "Come and face me! Fight, or run and tell your master, Annihilus, that the Avenging Son of Atlantis waits for him!"

It felt like two hours ago when Ben, John, and Namor pursued the scientist Janus into the Negative Zone. Janus had sabotaged the Negative Zone portal to prevent pursuit, but the three heroes had been able to pursue with the aid of Reed's Astronavicycle. Janus had come seeking power and had found it -- but had also found death within the gravity well of the energy anomoly. Worse, his presence here had attracted the attention of Annihilus. Annihilus, the Living Death that Walked, could not be allowed to find his way to Earth, so Namor had sent Ben and John back, lying to them that he could follow them with a SONAR-like power, but fully intending to sacrifice himself to lure Annihilus and his minions away so Ben and John could pierce the barrier back to Earth unseen. Now, while five more monsters prepared to re-join the running combat, Namor looked about for Annihilus among his minions and still did not see him. More than the end Janus had met, Namor feared that his sacrifice had been in vain.

Namor could not know that Annihilus was still relatively nearby, but lurking on the far side of a distant satelite and watching the battle unfold. With its scalloped wings wrapped around it, Annihilus stood on a pillar of rock that jutted from the face of the satelite from which he watched Namor's battle. A weird, alien voice reverberated in the metal mask Annihilus wore as it said, "The greater the struggle, the greater will be my victory! And the longer it takes, the greater the chance of others coming to save him. And that is what I most desire! For above all, I long to find the pathway to Earth...and one of them will surely lead me there!" A metallic laugh rang out as Annihilus reveled in the violence before him.

Far away, Namor had defeated the last of five monsters with saggy, rhinocerous-like hides and was waiting for the next wave of monsters with ridges all over their faces to advance. As he stood poised to launch himself into their midst, he remembered his 

queen, Dorma, and their children waiting at home in Atlantis. Namor thought of the rapturous feel of the ocean and longed for the rush of saltwater past his gills. He felt dry and dehydrated and knew his condition sapped his strength, so that when he did strike the next wave of monsters, not a one was bowled off their feet by the force of his charge. "For Dorma I fight!" Namor cried, and the effort seemed to rally his own strength so that his next punch broke bone, or whatever passed for such in the body of these aliens.

Baxter Building, New York City. May 1971.

"Ben! Don't just sit there!" John cried in frustration. "There must be something we can do!"

John Storm and Alicia Grimm were standing next to a seated Ben Grimm in the small laboratory that housed the Negative Zone portal.

"Ferget it!" Ben said, puffing on a cigar to calm his nerves. "Reed's flyin' here from California, but even in his private plane he's not gettin' here anytime soon. "Sides, Namor knew the risk, but him -- he hadda be a hero!"

"Ben!" Alicia chided her husband. "You know you admire Namor for what he did and you're only upset you didn't think of it yourself."

Ben sighed. "I can't hide anythin' from you, baby. Okay, so I want ta get Subby out of there as bad as you two, but we ain't got a chance! There's some kinda chronol distortion goin' on in there and we can't calibrate the Astronavicycle to compensate after Janus wrecked the controls that would'a done it. We'd either get there too early or too late to help 'em."

"What if you were too early...?" Alicia began to ask.

"We could wind up in the Negative Zone before we left," Johnny answered, "and we're not sure what would happen if we were in two places at the same time in the Negative Zone. We either go poof or maybe get shunted to a parallel timeline in the Negative Zone where Namor might not even--"

"Talk, talk, talk! I can't stomach any more!" Ben said and he rose out of the reinforced seat he had been using so roughly that he twisted it out of shape and then left the lab without a look back.

"Ben is not himself," Alicia observed.

"He's just upset," John said.

"No," Alicia argued. "There is more to it than that. I'm sure of it. Whatever it is, he's trying to keep it from me."

Ben walked through the corridors at an idle pace, but seeking out something in particular. He ranted out loud as he walked, though, saying, "Namor couldn't of figured on livin' forever! So he's cashin' in? Okay. That's what he gets for actin' like he's our leader when everyone knows I should be leader." At last, Ben's search took him to a room with a mirror in it. After all these transformations, he still wanted to watch. There was a time when Reed thought that Ben would never be cured of being a Thing. Then remedies began taking for a few hours at a time. Now Ben could will himself to revert back from a rocky orange shell to flesh and keep his old appearance for most of each day. Reed had said not to try holding his old form for more than eight hours a day. "But Reed ain't here now," Ben said out loud in answer to his own thoughts. Reed and Sue were retired from the superhero business already, living the good life in California. Alicia would have liked that too, he knew, but Ben saw no reason to retire to a quaint suburban life while still even partially trapped in the body of a Thing. So he pushed and pushed, holding back the transformation into the Thing as long as he could each day, now well past the eight hours Reed had prescribed. "He just don't know what it's like," Ben said out loud to himself again. "The pain." He knew the pain well from a hundred transformations where his body stretched and calloused into a rock-like substance, while his body bloated with two hundred pounds of muscle tissue. To avoid the pain alone he would resist turning back into the Thing, even if it weren't for Alicia.

The last pounds of armored mass seemed to melt off of Ben as he finished willing his transformation back. He admired his own features. He looked to be in fantastic shape for a man who was 50 years old. "Subby will have'ta save himself, 'cuz I'm not turnin' back into the Thing again to do it for 'em." No sooner had he said it to himself, though, then he was aware that someone was watching him. He looked around, but he knew who it was before he looked. "What'cha need, hon?" he asked.

"I need you to start acting like yourself again," Alicia answered. "I need you to be the Ben Grimm who wouldn't walk away when his friend was in danger and needed your help."

"Aw, what do I owe ol' Subby after all tha lumps he's given me?" Ben asked as he turned to face her.

"What do you owe him? He's been a substitute member of the team for the last five years. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're suffering from amnesia or being impersonated by a skrull."

"What makes you so sure I ain't?"

Alicia answered by smacking Ben in the face, her open hand finding his cheek by the sound of his voice. "Oh, you're Ben Grimm all right, I'm very sorry to say," she said, her voice shaking with anger. "And you're also being a coward, hiding behind that gruff act you always do to avoid dealing with whatever bothers or frightens you. Only this time you're going too far, or you're too scared."

"I ain't scared--" Ben said, but was interrupted by another slap. He saw it coming, but didn't raise a hand to stop her.

"Stop lying to me! You think I don't know you, inside and out?"

Now Ben's cheeks burned hot where she had slapped him and he felt his anger well out of control. He stood still, not lifting a hand against her, but channeled his rage into transforming back into the Thing. All of his body tissue increased in density and his features transformed. His hands and feet swelled in size while his smallest fingers and toes melded together. His body hair was reabsorbed and quickly covered with familiar orange, rocky growths. The process only took seconds, but they were long painful seconds. When they were over, Ben knew, nothing would be able to harm him. Not Alicia. Not anybody. He leaned in close to Alicia, his giant hands on other side of her. If he squeezed her too hard now, she'd be crushed like a grape.

"If you're going to hit me," Alicia said coldly, "get it over with."

Ben did nothing but put his hands down. "Ya happy now?" he asked sarcastically. "Ya want me ta go rescue Namor? Maybe get myself killed by Annihilus? No problem. Better than standin' around here bein' complained about!"

As Ben stormed off back to the Negative Zone portal, Alicia put her hands over her face and forced herself not to cry. Then, as Ben had sensed her standing nearby, she sensed another. "Agatha?" she asked.

Agatha Harkness, the old witch, stepped forward from around a corner. "Yes, it's me," Agatha said.

"How did you get in?"

"Why, John let me in, of course," Agatha lied. "I overheard your fight with your husband just now. Anger at a deceptive husband is not uncommon, but I wonder how he has taken the news of my tutoring you?"

"I…I haven't told him yet. I know he suspects you're a witch, but he's mistrustful, maybe even afraid, of magic. How can I tell him that I'm learning it?"

"But you do it to aid him, to make yourself a more useful member of the Fantastic Four. Surely he will understand."

"I don't know if he will! I don't feel like I know him at all anymore!" At that, Alicia could hold back her emotions no longer and she sobbed as the tears flowed. She ran from Agatha Harkness.

"Hmm…" was all Agatha said.

Over the Midwest. Same moment.

Reed Richards was at the largely automatic controls of a private jet. Despite the many exotic or alien air or space craft that Reed had helmed in the past 10 years, this one looked like a fairly mundane Hawker 400A jet, though Reed had tinkered with it until it could now reach supersonic speed. As Reed glanced at the clock and figured how long it had been since John had called him about trouble back in New York, Reed wished he had not settled for Mach 1.

Reed's mind wandered back to when he had first discovered the Negative Zone five years ago. Seemingly a natural phenomenon, it was a dimensional interface between the matter universe around him and another, anti-matter universe. This distortion area held immense quantities of energy that Reed always hoped he could harness into a cheap, reliable power source for Earth. Or that was what he told himself and others. Deep down, it was the irresistible pull of adventure that kept Reed interested in the Negative Zone. And it was times like this that he felt the irresistible pull of adventure was a weakness in his character, when he felt the guilt of bringing his world to the attention of a being like Annihilus. Just the thought of that monster actually sent a shiver down Reed's back. While Reed loved life, Annihilus hated it. While Reed saw the universe as an endless opportunity to explore and learn, Annihilus saw it as only an unending opportunity to spread destruction and ruin. This was no would-be world conqueror, as the Fantastic Four were used to dealing with. Annihilus wanted to find his way to Earth so he could destroy it. If Annihilus could not be kept away, Reed wondered, would he have to shut down the Negative Zone portal and abandon that line of research entirely?

Reed snapped out of his thoughts long enough to check the gages, but then let his mind drift back to Sue and their two-year old son Franklin. Reed had agreed to move out to Disneyland City with Sue and Franklin a year ago in order to give Franklin a chance at a more peaceful life. They had both given up their full-time lives of adventure, were now only reserve members of the Fantastic Four, and Reed had given up or indefinitely put on hold all of his more dangerous science experiments. He only had the jet to putter with because he had convinced Sue they needed a fast means of reaching New York in emergencies. Reed sighed. It was 2,441 miles between Disneyland City and New York City and a three hour trip. Reed still had another hour to go. How long could he deal with the frustration of being isolated in California, when he was still needed so much in New York?

Disneyland City. Same moment.

Franklin Richards was running around the playground, getting nowhere fast on his short legs, but with a big smile on his face that showed he was having a ball getting there. Sue Richards watched from a short distance behind him, eager to give her son room, but mindful that Franklin was liable to run back to the slide at any moment and would need help on the ladder. Luckily, Franklin veered for the swings instead.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wanna swing! Wanna swing!" he cried.

Sue was grateful because there was another adult by the swings, pushing her son already. Sue helped Franklin onto a swing and, after giving him his first gentle push, said to the woman next to her, "How old is your daughter?"

"She's four," the woman replied proudly. "And your son?"

"He'll be three this November," Sue replied.

"Wow, he handles a swing well for a two and a half year old."

"Well…we do like to think he's special," Sue said with a knowing smile. "Is she your only child?"

"No. I also have a son. He's seven, so he's in school now."

"Ah. Of course."

"Do you have any other children?"

Sue's smile faded. "No…" she said. She did not feel comfortable telling this stranger that, because of the residual cosmic radiation in her body, the delivery had almost killed her. She could not tell this woman about how Reed was more over-protective of her than ever since Franklin was born. She could not bring herself to say how jealous she was of this young mother, apparently in her late 20s, already on her second child. Sue was 37 now and felt her child-bearing years were dwindling rapidly. And, as much as she feared the risks of giving birth again, she feared more telling Reed that she wanted to try again.

New York City. Five minutes later.

"How ya think this is gonna work, squirt?" Ben asked sarcastically.

John and Ben were back in the Negative Zone portal lab. Ben felt ridiculous, holding a wind-up clock dangling on the end of a cord.

"If it does work, it's a low-tech solution to what we would normally ask Reed to figure out for us," John said. He stood by the viewing screen, adjusting dials and checking the sight. "By watching the clock as it passes into the Negative Zone, I'm hoping we can get a clue about this chronal distortion. Let it in slow, Ben."

"Yeah, yeah..." Ben said as he tossed the clock in through the Negative Zone portal.

"Not so fast, Ben!" John cried. "Tighten up on that cord."

Ben did as John ordered. He was a little creeped out by how the cord had grown taut and leapt about, as if something were tugging on the other end.

"Hold it steadier," John said.

"I ain't stickin' my hand in there just to steady your clock for ya," Ben protested grumpily.

"Hold it...I've almost got it," John said, his face almost pressed to the small viewscreen. "There!" he said after adjusting the magnification. "I can see the hands on the clock. They're moving counter-clockwise, Ben! Namor is behind us in time!"

"So what? Without Reed's sooped-up motorbike, we ain't got no way to home in on Namor."

"Oh, but you do, Ben Grimm, and she has been among you this whole time," said Agatha Harkness.

Ben and John turned to face the doorway with alarm.

"Agatha?" John asked incredulously. "How did you get in here?"

"And didn't ya get the memo?" Ben asked. "Reed and Sue let ya go as Franklin's nanny a long time ago."

"I came to see Alicia Grimm, not young Franklin," Agatha said dryly, as if oblivious to Ben's hostile tone. "And it is she who can help you most now. Her senses are as adept as anyone I have ever trained. She can tell you where Namor is."

"Huh? What'd'ya mean train? You trainin' my Alicia to be a nanny or somethin'?"

"No time, Ben -- she's right! Flame on!" and with that familiar battlecry, John Storm burst into flame, floated off the floor, and propelled himself out of the room. "I can find Alicia faster this way!" he called back to Ben. He raced through the hallways, shouting Alicia's name until he at least heard her response.

"John, what is it?" Alicia asked, coming out of Reed's old break room.

John stepped down onto the floor as the flames dwindled around him. "Agatha Harkness is here and says you can help us find Namor. Come on!"

"Agatha?" Alicia asked. She followed John, but was terrified that Agatha had told them both her secret in Alicia's absence. She imagined Ben's fearful reaction, but fought back the urge to run away. She would face whatever happened as bravely as befit a member of the Fantastic Four.

"There ya are," Ben said.

Alicia could tell from his voice that he was impatient, but no longer angry. She could sense Agatha was there too. Agatha must not have told Ben everything yet. She listened as John and Ben outlined their plan.

"I'm dialing slowly through the coordinates in the Negative Zone," John told her. "I know you can't see through the scanner, but Agatha says your ability to sense the goodness in others is stronger than we know."

"Concentrate," Agatha told Alicia. "Try to sense the goodness in Namor."

"I'll try," Alicia said. She turned away from John and the scanner and walked right up to the Negative Zone portal. She could sense the Zone like a presence. She tried to reach with her senses through it, or deeper into it. The Negative Zone felt like a sticky tar around her senses, as black and dense as the darkness she saw with her eyes.

"That was roughly the area we emerged from," John said softly. "I'll focus the portal over that area again…"

"I don't—there! I think I feel him there!" Alicia cried suddenly.

"Now we're back in business!" Ben said as he grabbed two gyro-harnesses hanging on the wall. He tossed one to John and strapped the other one on.

"Will you not be taking Alicia with you?" Agatha asked.

"This ain't a knitting circle we're walkin' in on," Ben shot angrily at Agatha. "It's way too dangerous."

"But, if she has already proven herself useful—" she tried again.

"I said no! It's just me and hotshot goin' in there until Reed gets here. Ya ready ta go, Matchhead?"

"Sure," John said, but he was not happy at all with the way Ben was acting. It was something to address when, and if, they returned. He grabbed hold of the astronavicycle as ben did. "On the count of three…"

"Three!" Ben cried as he pushed the cycle through the portal, pulling John with it.

Alicia knew they were gone, entirely outside of her world. She stared after them with unseeing eyes, while Agatha in turn watched her.

Somewhere and somewhen in the Negative Zone.

Namor had defeated the last of the last wave of monsters – a top-heavy brute with a mane and a forked tail – by snapping its neck. It was a desperate measure, unworthy of the King of Atlantis, but Namor could feel his strength draining as his body dehydrated. So far he had not found so much as a drop of water in this accursed Negative Zone to replenish his strength. With the battle over, Namor sank to one knee, breathing heavy and watching for more reinforcements to come.

It was not reinforcements that arrived, but Annihilus himself, borne on his leathery green wings and landing on his metal-shod feet on the satellite before Namor. Though Annihilus' eyes could not be seen through the lenses of his helmet, they seemed to radiate an almost visible hatred. "I tire of letting you live, man of Earth's universe," Annihilus said with a voice that sounded like it came from beyond the grave. "Nor can I afford to enjoy this sport for long, as your kind has shown too much resourcefulness in escaping me in the past. I will give you just this one chance to grovel for mercy first before your destruction."

Namor stood quickly to his feet and clenched his fists tight. "I am ready to fight you, Annihilus."

The two beings prepared to battle, watching each other intently for who would make the first move. But then, a blaze of fire erupted on a nearby satellite on which Annihilus had been hiding just a minute earlier. Annihilus turned from his foe and watched.

"That fire!" Annihilus cried. "Could your fellow Earthling, the Human Torch, have hurled that? This is the chance I have been waiting for, so that I can force him to show me the way back to Earth!"

"You will not succeed! Imperious Rex!" Namor cried as he hurled himself at Annihilus' back. The battle was joined.

"We did it!" John shouted as they reappeared in the Negative Zone. The astronavicycle coasted in for a landing on a nearby satellite orbiting the energy anomaly, with John and Ben still on either side of it.

"Now what?" Ben asked.

"No time to make sure the cycle's still working," John said. "We've got to find Namor and Annihilus! Flame—" John started to shout the battle cry he traditionally gave when he ignited with flaming plasma, but he could not do so here without melting the gryo-harness he wore. Reed had designed them to counter the overwhelming feeling of vertigo that would normally accompany anyone entering the Negative Zone.

John ran across the satelite's surface while Ben carried the astronavicycle to take it with them. They did not have to run far on the floating rock on which they stood to reach the edge and see the satellites below theirs.

"Ben, isn't that Annihilus down there?"

Sure enough, they could see Annihilus, with his back to them, squatting atop another satellite.

"That's gotta be him," Ben said. "I didn't think we'd get so luck as to take 'em out with a sneak attack. Let 'em have it, Johnny!"

John was apprehensive, remembering the power of Annihilus from their first meeting, and lacking the protection of his flaming plasma sheath. But Ben was right – taking out Annihilus hard and fast was their safest bet, even though he wouldn't be very proud of winning a fight this way. Summoning the power that was his to command, he spontaneously generated dozens of gallons of 5,000-degree burning plasma on the spot where Annihilus was. Annihilus did not even seem to notice.

"What the heck?" Ben exclaimed. "Waste 'em, John! C'mon!"

It was a disturbing suggestion, but John had to admit to himself that, under the circumstances, excessive force might be prudent. He generated burning plasma twice as hot and dumped it on Annihilus, but Annihilus simply got up and flew away without even noticing them.

"Something's not kosher here," Ben said. "C'mon, hotshot," he said, as he scooped up John under his arm and leapt down to the satellite where Annihilus had just been.

"You're right, Ben," John said. "The rock here doesn't look like it felt any heat either. How can everything in the Negative Zone be fireproof?"

"I don't know, kiddo, but – hey! What gives?" Ben's startled reaction was because, while they stood there looking at the ground, they noticed the ground turn hot and streamy beneath their feet.

"Delayed reaction? C'mon, we've got to go after Annihilus. He's our best shot at leading us to Namor."

No sooner had John said so when they both clearly heard Namor's battle cry, "Imperius Rex!"

"Found 'em already!" Ben said as they ran to the edge of the satellite and looked around to the neighboring satellites. Upon one, Namor and Annihilus were circling each other. Before John could react, Ben dug his thick fingers into the rock beneath his feet and tore out a large chunk that weighed about 500 lbs. "This ain't gonna clobber Annihilus, but maybe I can give Subby an unfair advantage," Ben explained as he took aim and hurled his missile straight at Annihilus. The rock seemed to hurtle right through Annihilus and shattered against the ground behind him. "What the--?" Ben began to ask no in particular, increasingly frustrated by this mystery.


	3. Chapter 3

The battle was joined. Namor launched himself into the air, straight at Annihilus. Annihilus stood its ground -- indeed, did not move an inch, but allowed a nimbus of crackling energy to build up around the Cosmic Control Rod at its throat and launched it in a blast of corruscating waves at Namor. Namor was beaten back, his flesh burned, and hit the ground behind where he'd started.

A hideous, ringing laugh filled the air, coming from Annihilus. "Fool! Worse than a fool, to confront me when so weak. Or perhaps my conjured servants had beaten you worse than you realized. Either way, I cannot dally long in disposing of you if I am to find the Human Torch. I will allow myself only some small measure of sport and use but half of the cosmic energy at my command. I could flay the skin from your bones, or--"

"Bore me to death with talking, as the Thing might say," Namor said as he rose to his feet. "If it is sport you crave, then let the Namor the First of Atlantis reach within striking distance of you."

"So be it," Annihilus said and, as it did, the nimbus of crackling energy disappeared from around its throat and transferred to around its fists. And then it stood there, waiting for Namor's charge.

Namor did not disappoint. He charged headlong at Annihilus, but feinted with a right cross that Annihilus chose to block. Namor followed swiftly with a left jab under Annihilus' guard that connected with Annihilus' armored torso. The strike rang out like a hammer against an anvil, with the result of a minor dent in Annihilus' armor. Namor smiled. Annihilus may have power, but it was no fighter. Given time, Namor could wear it down.

Annihilus was not prepared to give him time. Cosmic energy extended down Annihilus' arms and, when it swung them at Namor, Namor was hurled back even though the blow itself had missed. When Namor came back, but flying wide and to the left to flank Annihilus, Annihilus let loose another blast of cosmic energy. "I thought you wished to remain within arm's length?" it mocked.

Namor twisted away from the narrower beam of cosmic energy and reached his goal -- Annihilus' spread wing. Namor grabbed it, swung Annihilus off its feet, and used the momentum to lift Annihilus up into the air before slamming it back to the ground with its own wing. "Perhaps I meant wingspan," Namor mocked back.

"I was wrong to toy with you," Annihilus roared. "Every moment I delay with you, the other Earthlings could flee back to their own universe again." Annihilus' eyes glowed now with the cosmic energy building up inside it and its entire, armored body was starting to glow with the energy. But, before it could lash out at Namor again, a rocky projectile, like a speeding meteorite, impacted with the ground scant yards from where Annihilus stood and exploded into a shower of flying debris. Annihilus followed its trajectory back to the satellite on which it had perched before and saw Ben and John looking down at them. "Excellent!" Annihilus exclaimed. "Now I need only kill one and threaten to kill a second before the third will lead me back to his world!"

"No!" Namor cried as he slammed into Annihilus from behind. Annihilus was so distracted by Ben and John that it had momentarily forgot about Namor and lowered the amount of cosmic energy around his body. Namor was still hurt from striking him, but Annihilus was hurt too and fell forward off its feet.

Annihilus roared with rage and cut loose with another huge wave of cosmic energy that sent Namor flying off the entire satellite and out into space. "There is no limit to the amount of cosmic energy I can unleash to destroy you Earthlings!" Annihilus raged. "So long as my Cosmic Control Rod can tap the limitless supply of the Anomoly below us!" Not seeing Namor anymore, Annihilus turned his attention back to the others in time to see the Thing jumping down towards him. Annihilus flew upwards to meet him in mid-air and, to Annihilus' surprise, flew right through him.

--

Ben and John watched Namor launched himself into the air, straight at Annihilus. Annihilus stood its ground -- indeed, did not move an inch, but allowed a nimbus of crackling energy to build up around the Cosmic Control Rod at its throat and launched it in a blast of corruscating waves at Namor. Namor was beaten back, his flesh burned, and hit the ground behind where he'd started.

"Namor's getting roasted!" John exclaimed. "I'd better risk flaming on and get down there."

"Naw, let me handle it, Kid," Ben said. "I don't know how that rock missed, but I won't." And with that, Ben jumped off the edge of his satellite straight down to where Annihilus stood. While falling, he let out his familiar battlecry, "It's clobbering time!" Ben did not have the velocity of the hurled missile, but still expected to have some impact when he landed on Annihilus.

Instead, Ben tumbled right through it as Annihilus was saying, "Fool! Worse than a fool, to confront me when so weak. Or perhaps my conjured servants had beaten you worse than you realized."

"Hey, what gives?" Ben asked in mounting anger and frustration. "Ignore me, will ya?" He swung his fists right through Annihilus as Annihilus continued to mock Namor. "C'mon, get up, Subby, and help me clock this bozo!" Ben shouted, but Namor too seemed oblivious to the Thing's presence.

John kept watching what was going on below him, trying to puzzle it out the way Reed would. An explanation was starting to take shape in his mind, but…was it even possible? "Ben!" John called down. "I think…I think we're out of sync with them! It's the chronal distortion! We arrived before or after the moment they're in!"

"Okay, whatta we do about that now?" Ben asked, throwing his hands in the air while Annihilus and Namor tussled around him.

"I don't know! If—Holy cow! Annihilus is up here now!" John put himself between Anninilus and the astronavicycle. Though it would soon melt his gyroharness, John saw no choice but to flame on if he needed to defend himself. He willed into existence a flaming sheath of plasma around him. In his haste, he even skipped shouting, "Flame on!" Before Annihilus could react, John bathed him in a torrent of burning plasma.

"What is that?" Annihilus asked, pointing to the astronavicycle. "If that is the key to your world, then it must be mine!" Annihilus cried as he attacked John with a blast of cosmic power. The blast went right through John. "What trickery is this? A second illusion?" Annihilus asked.

Then John seemed to notice Annihilus standing there for the first time and shouted down to Ben, "Annihilus is up here now!"

Annihilus tried to take no notice of John, as whether he was immaterial or illusionary did not matter so long as he did not pose a threat. It advanced slowly instead on the astronavicyle, trying to discern its function at a glance, and kept a forcefield of cosmic power around itself in case John became a threat. Sure enough, before Annihilus could touch the device, the fire around his forcefield seemed to come to life and super-heated the air even inside the forcefield.

Ben had taken a running start and jumped up to the satellite above him, clutched the edge of the huge hunk of rock on which John and Annihilus were engaged in combat, and pulled himself up.

John spotted Ben. "Hurry, Ben! My gyroharness is melting fast!"

"You're both too late, for now I have this!" Annihilus said as he dropped his forcefield and reached out to snatch the astronavicycle. "And now I have no use for you!" Annihilus held the astronavicycle with one hand and used its free hand to focus a blast of cosmic energy at John. The blast would have reduced John to cinders had he not flamed on. Most of the energy of the blast was expending disrupting John's protective sheath, but it was still strong enough to throw John rolling across the rocky terrain for 20 feet before he skidded to a stop, bruised and cut and stunned.

"Oh, you just earned yerself a ton o' hurtin'," Ben said as he lumbered towards Annihilus. Again, Annihilus was prepared to dismiss Ben and focus on its prize, and was again caught flat-footed when Ben landed a haymaker punch that sent Annihilus stumbling back and made it drop the astronavicycle. "Well, whattaya know?" Ben asked. "I guess th' bike brung ya into phase with me and Torchy when ya touched it. Too bad for you." Ben landed another punch that put a dent in its armor next to the one Namor had made and forced Annihilus to step back, but Annihilus caught his third punch in its hand.

"Die," Annihilus commanded as it held Ben's hand tight and began to build up an enormous amount of cosmic energy to blast Ben with. But, before he could strike with the killing blow, John recovered enough to smother Annihilus' wings and backside in white-hot plasma. Annihilus was distracted enough by the heat that Ben was able to wrest his fist free. He saw an opening to pop Annihilus at least once in the face, but another idea struck Ben. As quick as he could, he tore off his gryoharness and put it over Annihilus' head. Ben fell to the ground, immediately disoriented, but Annihilus reeled back in similar disorientation.

"What did you do that for?" John asked as he ran towards Ben.

"Jus' gambled that…if it was geared ta orient someone from our world…that it would disorient someone from here. Glad ta be right, but…I think I'm gonna lose my cookies…"

Ben could barely stand, but John helped slump him over the cycle. Looking back, he could see Annihilus tearing the gyroharness apart. "We're going to need another diversion," John said. Using his power to generate flame, he created images of the burning Human Torch all around Annihilus, one after another.

"More flaming Earthlings?" Annihilus roared, at least momentarily falling for the ruse. "Die, all!" Cosmic energy began to swell out of him omni-directionally, swallowing up the flame images and breaking up the ground under Annilihus' feet.

"We've got to get out of here!" John shouted, as he pulled the emergency return lever on the cycle's dashboard. The cycle lurched to life, zooming past Annihilus with Ben still leaning over it and John holding on. Underneath them, the rocky satellite was breaking apart as the energy ball around Annihilus grew larger. But the cycle was moving faster now, rocketing away from the Annihilus and the Anomaly, through the distortion area, and—

Baxter Building, New York City. May 1971. The present.

John hit the button on his gyroharness, turning it off as soon as he was back in his own world. Alicia and Agatha were waiting for them. Ben groaned as he found the crippling nausea immediately alleviated.

"Ben, you're back!" Alicia cried. She knew that groan anywhere. As angry as she had been with her husband earlier, she now rushed to his side and held him.

"Yeah, yeah…I'm back, babe," Ben said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "But Namor…we couldn't get 'em."

"No?" Agatha asked. "Then perhaps you should check this monitoring device."

John walked over to it in reply and looked. "She's right!" he exclaimed. "Here comes Namor now! Ben, reach through and grab him!"

Ben did as John said, stepping up to the portal and reaching his hand into the distortion area. He felt a tug on the other side, a hand holding his, and then Ben had to pull with all his strength to tug that hand through.

Namor, looking as battered and beaten as ever they'd seen him, came through.

"Good to have you back, Namor!" John cried. "How did you make it?"

Namor paused for a moment while he straightened himself up and regained his composure. Even bruised and burnt, he still looked every inch a king now. "After I recovered from Annihilus' attack, I tried to join your battle, but seemed to be invisible to all of you. Yet, since I could see you, it was a simple matter to follow you."

"You must have been right behind us in time," John said. "We couldn't see you, because you were in our past, but you could see our future as soon as you reached it."

"Okay, Reed Jr.," Ben joked. "Next time try using some four-syllable words and you'll really sound like 'em."

"Oh – Reed!" Alicia cried. "I forgot, I have him on the radio from his plane." Alicia went over to one of the consoles, felt for the right switch, and flipped it back on. "Reed, are you still there?"

"I'm still here," Reed's voice came in over the radio. "I heard everything and couldn't be happier that it all worked out! I'm still about a state away from you now, but when I get there, we can discuss what to do about the Negative Zone portal. If I stick around for awhile, maybe I can make some adjustments to make it safer."

"You're supposed ta be retired, Stretch!" Ben called out angrily. "What are ya doin'? Tryin' to come back an' take over again, before I even get a chance ta really be leader?"

"Ben, that's not what he said…" Alicia said with a soothing voice, and reaching out her hand to try and calm Ben down.

"I should'a known he'd come back an' try to hog all the credit! Go back to L.A., Reed! Ya come back here, I'm walkin'!"

"Ben…how can you talk to Reed like that?" John asked, his former concerns about Ben's erratic behavior quickly resurfacing.

"The threat of Annihilus may not be over," Namor added. "We may need Reed's expertise in—"

"Well, nuts ta all of ya!" Ben said angrily. "You're all against me!" With that, Ben turned to the exit and stormed off again, as he had before.

"What is wrong with Ben?" Alicia asked, sounding frustrated.

"Much, I'm afraid," Agatha said. "Be very afraid for him…"


End file.
